Fall 2000 - Switzerland and Italy

Two Nights Ravenna

Thursday, October 12

We left Locarno in the morning and drove to Ravenna. The rain stopped for
a few minutes in Locarno, but poured on the drive from Locarno to Milan and
on into the Po Valley. The rain stopped near Parma and then it was hot (80s)
and very humid.

Note: This region of Italy and Switzerland was badly flooded a few days
later. People were evacuated and roads were closed. A town we had driven by
on the Simplon Pass was taken away in a mudslide and many people were killed.
We watched the coverage on the news in Spello the next week.

The driving was very hard. It rained all the way to Parma, then the sun
came out and it was hot. We checked into our hotel in Ravenna and put the
car in a parking garage. The hotel is a good location (but the street was
noisy), but was a boring modern building. The rooms were nice, but small.
The room got very hot at night (muggy) and if you had the window open there
was noise from the street. There were not many cars, but you could hear them
and the people.

Ravenna is a beautiful city. It has a large historic district full of restaurants,
caffes and shops. Just outside the city, to the east on the Adriatic shore,
is a huge industrial area. This probably why the town is so prosperous. We
came to see the mosaics, but tonight we just walked around the town and went
out for a nice dinner in a small restaurant.

Friday, October 13

Overcast but mild. A few light showers. Not as muggy as yesterday.

The mosaics in Ravenna are wonderful. See Things to Do: Ravenna for a description of them. We spent the day going from place to place looking
at mosaics. Had slices of pizza for lunch. Went to a caffe on Piazza del Popolo
for espresso - had it standing at the bar and they served the espresso with
a small glass of water. Very elegant. After seeing all the churches and mosaics,
we decided to do something different and walked outside the town, into the
traffic and horrible smelling industrial smog, to the Mausoleum of Theodoric.
Theodoric ruled here in the 500s or so (I think) and built himself this Mausoleum.
The roof is one huge rock. This is a big tourist sight with the Germans -
to remind them of the time that their ancestors ruled this region.

Out for a nice dinner. The meals are served faster here than we are used
to in Tuscany. You can have your dinner easily in just over an hour. In Tuscany
it is always 2 or 3 hours.

One Week in Spello

Saturday, October 14

Today we drove to our vacation rental in Spello (Umbria). First we stopped
just outside of Ravenna for one last church with mosaics. Got lost looking
for the church in Classe, but found it after searching down many streets.
And it was worth it - fabulous mosaics. One huge picture filling the apse.
Beautiful colors - flocks of sheep on green grass.

Drove to Urbino, a hill town in the Marche region with the last picture
in the Piero della Francesca trail. We had seen all the others and always
wanted to see this one, but Urbino is a long drive from Tuscany or even most
parts of Umbria. The town is beautiful - perhaps the steepest streets we have
ever encountered (and I found out after that there is an elevator from one
of the parking areas). The art gallery is in the Ducal Palace. Piero della
Francesca's picture is "Flagellation". It was small and not as great as the
others (in my opinion). But the Ideal City (maybe by him) was great. Many
other very good paintings.

Just as we were leaving, we remembered that there are frescos here! It
was just before 3pm and the church opened at 3pm. We found it and went in
just ahead of a large group. A very small church with a few good frescoes.

Drove to Spello. We had been in Spello just once before in 1999 for the
afternoon. It is a lovely town. The church has beautiful frescoes by Pinturichio.
There is an enotecca that sells organic olive oil. Last time we took home
a 5-liter tin. We did this time too.

We had booked the apartment Zaffiro (through Gorgace Rentals), but Walter
wanted us to take Perla because it was empty and had a better view. Zaffiro
is on the ground level - a few steps down from the street. Perla is above
it. But it was very small. My first thought was why was there a couch in the
kitchen? Then I realized that was the living room too. It was hardly a one
bedroom (sliding panels made the bed area separate) - more like a studio.
This had been my main concern when booking the apartment, but Gorgace Rentals
assured me the apartments were a good size and were comfortable. Wrong. From
now on I will ask the exact measurement. An apartment needs to be at least
500 square feet (50 square meters) to feel spacious.

We asked if there was anything bigger and Walter said there might be. One
of their apartments was being renovated and it had been finished early. We
went to see it and loved it. So we paid a little more and rented Gardino.
It is an apartment on the upper floor of a house on a lane off the main street.
A nice older couple live below. It has one big kitchen, dining room, living
room, then a nice bedroom and a bathroom. Nice antique furniture. Small kitchen
counter area. Stove (gas), oven, one sink, drying cupboard. Good pots and
everything else. A small TV with Italian stations. No phone, but we found
a phone outlet and used it with the computer. The windows all have screens.
The apartment is quiet, and has many windows with great views of the town
and countryside. To get to the apartment, you walk 100 steps up from the street.
You park a 5-minute walk away. I have pictures of this apartment on a separate
page.

Sunday, October 15

Overcast and poured rain all day until the evening.

Another off day. Spent the day reading and napping. Finally the rain stopped
so we walked down the main street of Spello. Spello is an enchanting town,
full of narrow lanes, beautifully restored buildings, nice shops, and a church
with Pinturichio frescoes that we love.

Monday, October 16

Overcast today with a few drops of rain.

Well, tonight we got a fax from Tony, our house sitter, saying that we
have to go home early. Pauline has been waiting for 3 years to have her interview
for citizenship in the US and the letter had just arrived. There is no changing
the interview date, so we made a bunch of phone calls from the booth in the
piazza and canceled the last part of the trip. We are flying home in a week.
We have never had to cancel any part of a trip before!

There is a good bakery in Spello - artiganale - just a few steps down the
road. Most days we got fresh bread in the morning. Today we drove to Montefalco.
Took 40 minutes to get there - looked closer on the map! Found the church
with the frescoes that we wanted to see, but they are being restored, so we
could not see them. They said to come back at 5pm. Had a nice lunch in Montefalco.

It was raining lightly. Drove to another church at the edge of town with
fading frescos. Drove to Bevagna and spent a few hours walking all over the
town. They have a restored Roman bath with mosaics (black and white showing
sea creatures). The town is very small - only a few stores, a couple of caffes.
Very beautiful and surrounded by beautiful countryside. Lots of olive trees.

Drove back to Montefalco for 5pm only to be told that we would not be able
to see the frescoes after all. Drove home, but got lost in Foligno. Pauline
did some driving today. I drove quite a bit in Switzerland, but this was my
first Italy driving.

Steve is just reading an article from the International Herald Tribune
- the town of Gondo on the Simplon Pass road in Switzerland was washed away
with a mudslide on Saturday. We drove through there on Wednesday. People were
evacuated from parts of Locarno because of raising lake waters.

Tuesday, October 17

Overcast and colder. A few drops of rain. We turned the heat on tonight.

The coffee maker in the apartment (just one of those cheap aluminum espresso
pots) isn't working well, so we just bought ourselves a nice, better quality
one in town. We usually bring our espresso pot with us on these trips (because
the ones you get in the apartments can be kind of yucky), but we didn't this
time.

Today we drove to Assisi - just 20 minutes away. The town was crowded.
There were many tour groups for the Jubileo 2000 (Catholic year of celebration
in Italy). Went to the main cathedral. We were last her before the September
1997 earthquake. The Giottos were in better shape than I thought they would
be after the earthquake. It seems like the upper frescos were more damaged.
Had a good look at the Giotto series about St. Francis. Went to the lower
cathedral, but it felt hot and close and crowded with all the people. We left
quickly.

Had lunch in Assisi. We saw a sign at a restaurant saying fresh porcini
and asked if we could get it grilled (we could) but when we ordered we were
told none left (we were the only people there). Bait and switch right here
in Assisi! Still, it was a good meal.

Drove up Monte Subasio to the place where St. Francis meditated in a grotto.
Did a short hike in the woods. To get to the St. Francis grotto you went deep
in the building down narrow staircases and through small doors that you had
to bend over to get through. I have nightmares about situations like this!
I turned back. Steve kept going (he doesn't share my irrational fear of small
spaces).

Took about 1 hour to drive over Monte Subasio. It is very barren at top.
We saw people picking mushrooms in the wide-open fields. There were great
views of Spello on the way back through the olive groves.

Wednesday, October 18

Foggy today until around 4pm when it lifted and was sunny.

A little about Spello: There are 4 or 5 caffes inside the city walls. Another
few just outside the walls. There are 5 or 6 restaurants inside the city walls;
2 places for pizza. Another couple just outside the walls. Probably 4 or 5
alimentari (also with fruit and vegetables), 4 enoteca, one newspaper store
just off the main piazza. The main piazza has lots of cars parked in it and
no caffe, so doesn't really work for hanging out. During the passagiata people
just gather in doorways or walk up the main street.

Today we explored Spello. In the morning we walked down the main street,
looked at the frescoes again, bought wonderful Italy-made napkins in the store
across from the church, found a cat that is not like any Italian cat (we patted
it), walked outside the main gate to the market. Bought chestnuts to take
home. Walked to the Roman Amphitheater, but you could not go in. Just a hole
with a few columns. Walked back up into the town via Porta Venere (very steep
and pretty). Got some groceries and went home for lunch.

In the later afternoon we headed out again. Had coffee and a pastry in
a caffe. Looked at the frescoes again. Went into an enotecca we saw earlier
today - it advertises organic olive oil. They were giving out tastings of
everything to everyone. We had to say no to wine and a horrified no to cingale
(Steve said we are vegetarians - so they brought us truffle paste). We bought
some truffle paste, chestnut honey, olive oil and noodles. It took a long
time to make the purchase but they let us taste this Truffle Amaro we saw
- a truffle apertivo - horrible. Sweet, not like you would expect. So it was
worth the hanging around.

Thursday, October 19

Started out foggy, but nice and sunny by noon.

Today we drove to Spoleto. We spent 3 nights here in June 1997. We parked
just outside the city walls and walked all the way up and up to the main part
of town. More stores than I remembered. Lots of clothing stores (many with
US things). Got a couple of books to take home, had a coffee, looked at restaurant
menus. Had lunch where we ate a couple of times back in 1997.

Walked up to the Duomo to see the frescoes. Wonderful. Walked around town
a bit. Walked back to the car and drove to church outside of town with carvings
on the front. Stopped at Trevi on the way home. Very small town, only a couple
of caffes. Looked better from below than when you are in it. There is lots
of earthquake damage; the church was closed and covered in scaffolding.

Friday, October 20

Finally a nice day. Sunny. Some fog in the morning. Steve's birthday.

Walked into Spello and went to the church to see the frescoes again. This
time we also went to the Pinnoteca (gallery). Today we drove to another nearby
town, Bettona, and went to the art gallery - some Peruginos. Drove to Montefalco
to see if we could see the frescoes, but we could not. They will be available
Nov. 1. Had my first limoncello at a bar on the piazza. Pauline did some driving
today.

Went out for dinner in Spello to celebrate Steve's birthday. A very nice
dinner.

Two Nights in Tuscany

Saturday, October 21

Beautiful and sunny all day. Warm in the middle of the day. Cold evening.

Today we leave Spello and go to our next vacation rental in southern Tuscany.
Check out of our Spello apartment. We had to pay extra for heat (40,000 lire
(about $20) for the week) and the phone. It took nearly two hours to drive
to Pienza. The roads around Montepulciano and Pienza were very slow (winding
and there were many slow drivers). We had arranged to meet Zak from TuscanHouse
(the agency we had used to book our Tuscany vacation rental) at one of his
houses near Pienza. We have already booked this house, La Fornacina, for 3
weeks in September 2001 and Zak wanted us to see the house and meet the American
owners.

We had a wonderful time. The house is beautiful; the American owners were
charming and friendly. They showed us everything around the house and property.
We spent the afternoon visiting with them.

Drove to our vacation rental near Palazzone. It is a charming little house
on the edge of a vineyard (with beautiful views). We are only staying 2 nights,
but we had booked 14 nights. We would have been very happy here for the 2
weeks. Went into Piazze for some groceries and a pizza dinner.

Sunday, October 22

Beautiful and sunny all day. Warm in the middle of the day - cools off
quickly. Gets dark around 6:30. Today is our last day.

The house, La Vigna, is nice. It is about 500 sq feet; the same size as
our Spello apartment. It is very private - at the edge of woods and a vineyard.
Nice views. In good shape. Nice windows, good heating system, small kitchen
with 4-burner gas stove, oven, small dishwasher, fridge, and freezer. Small
stone sink that might be hard to use. Good dishes and pots and pans. Good
kitchen lights and bedroom lights. No reading light in the living room. TV
with Italian channels. No phone. Fireplace (but no wood or anything left for
us). Good towels. Parking just outside the house. Sitting area on the edge
of the gravel parking area. You walk up to the main farm area with two farmhouses,
two vacation rentals and a nice pool. Good location - 15 minutes from Fabro
exit on A1 autostrada. 15 minutes from Cetona. 10 minutes San Casciano dei
Bagni. Palazzone is very pretty but small. Piazze is only 5 minutes away with
two restaurants and stores. Very beautiful area with rolling hills. Quiet.
The house feels very private. Shower (good one) no tub. Second bedroom (private)
with a single bed. Nice brick floors. No desk, but a good dining room table
(which you would need to use when cooking). Everything very pretty and in
good shape. A very squeaky cat seems to come with the place.

This house has a melita coffee pot - we have never seen that before in
Italy. Walked into the small village of Palazzone - about 10 minutes. They
have two alimentaris and one caffe/restaurant, but the latter is closed for
renovation.

Drove to Cetona for coffee. Tried to book lunch in Pienza but Latte di
Luna was full, so booked at the San Casciano restaurant. Drove there for lunch.
Had a wonderful last meal out in Italy.

Tomorrow we leave.

Monday, October 23

Left the house at 7:30am to drive to the Rome airport for a 12:30pm flight.
The first part of the drive was in thick fog. Part of the autostrada near
Rome was under construction, so there were slowdowns because of that. Arrived
at the airport at 10:15. Returned the rental car, check in and did a long
and exhausting flight home.

I went for my INS interview the next day and got sworn in as a US citizen
three weeks later. Now I have a US passport for my next trip.